SW of the motte (see 9161) is a roughly rectangular area, scarped on three sides, with an oblong depression near the W side. This is probably the site of a terraced garden to the hall. Plan in RCHM. <1> According to OS field investigator this could be some form of outwork to the motte. The depression could be the site of a building of later date. <2> The Colchester Archaeological Group dug trenches on the side of this earthwork in 1969. The trenches were too narrow to be conclusive but two E-W parallel ditches were found, possibly connected to a N-S ditch which showed as a linear feature on an AP. The two parallel ditches were suggested as being possibly palisade trenches for fortification associated with the motte. Pottery finds were mainly late C12-early C13, but one rim sherd was a Thetford ware type, but in a medieval fabric; and another sherd is dated as very early Norman, c1080-1130. Horse bones were found, from an animal which had been butchered on the spot. <3> SMR, and HBMC, state the earthwork is almost certainly secondary and may be of much later date than the motte. <4> <5>

Site Assessment = Nature of earthwork uncertain, excavations inconclusive.

AP <6> <7> <8>.